


Adrenaline (XO)

by Whatthef0ucault



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Almost Cannon, Beyonce - Freeform, Diego has feelings, Explicit Language, Explosions, F/M, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mild Blood, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Past Klaus/Dave - Freeform, Past Relationship(s), Pseudo-Incest, Song fic, Spoilers, This is just a dumping ground for my feelings sorry, ben gets no credit, in the most literal sense, klaus has a diego, mention of allison and luther, mild violence, not my characters just borrowing them, past diego/eudora patch, super fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-26 03:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20037064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatthef0ucault/pseuds/Whatthef0ucault
Summary: Klaus wasn't known for, well, knowing things (but was known for knowing things that others didn't know), but he knew one thing for sure in that moment- they needed to keep moving, and fast. Foresight proving correct, his green eyes looked up at what was left of the offending ceiling and noticed the schisms traveling away from them through the glass, indicating that it was going to come down at any second. He felt a pang of panic erupt in his chest at the thought of them dying like this, here, in this fucking house like they'd both always feared, like they'd all always feared."Diego!....Diego!.....Diego!" He was screaming and patting at the bigger man, trying to rouse him and get them away from the impending danger.OrMy personal reimagining of the beginning of Season 1 Episode 10 "The White Violin" with some inspiration from Queen Bey.





	Adrenaline (XO)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, welcome to my first fic in this fandom! And my first fic I've written in about 6 years. I highly suggest listening to the song [XO by Beyonce](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xUfCUFPL-8) either before or while reading if you don't know the song already. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Please feel free to follow me on [tumblr](https://letsbakethatcake.tumblr.com/)!

Adrenaline has often been the scapegoat blamed for momentary lapses in judgement, memory, or for seemingly miraculous, impossible actions. Diego's make up was no different; he’d had his fair share of moments in his fast-paced life that had certainly been colored by the biochemical. Being a knife wielding “super human” with a strong and unique moral code tended to coincide with this more often than the average experience. However, he also had learned over the years how to channel that physical response into his movements and split second decisions. In Diego’s mind, it was far easier to use pain as a method of self-control by becoming one with that fight or flight instinct instead of letting it consume him whole. Plus, he didn’t have to actually think about it when those moments ended, when he’d saved the innocent people and was dubbed the hero. The attention could be focused away from the way his knives tore into flesh and snubbed the life out with it- could be focused away from the glaringly opposite image of his stuttering speech and the way he leaned into soft touches with sad hunger. 

So when he found himself running down the hallways with Klaus while his sister Vanya was quite literally ripping the roots of her traumas out at their foundations by destroying their childhood home (room by room with super sonic sound waves at that ), it should have been natural for Diego to handle it. Yet, everything was so loud, vibrations rumbling through the floor and up his legs and torso, making his head spin. He was overwhelmed, something he absolutely hated being because it was the exact opposite of his Being, the one he preferred to live in anyway. 

  
His emotions had started to creep in the moment he had realized that everything he'd known before he had left The Academy was going to come down, including all of the people he loved within it. Luther had told him to find Mom and get her out safely, and for once, Diego didn't fight him about it. The only thing he was currently fighting was his urge to not feel small and to stay focused. Somehow, Klaus had attached to him through all of the chaos (like he had been all week actually), and like he had at select moments when they were young. Turning a corner on unsteady heels while they both screamed for Mom, Diego got a brief flash of when they were ten, the moment Klaus had discovered that draping his thin frame over a struggling Diego's shoulders while he had been voicing how a-a-annoying Klaus was being had grounded him enough to quell the stutter and help him 'picture the word in his mind' as Mom would say. The glimmer in the other's eyes and his exclamation of "Ha! See, you do need me around sometimes!" had made his younger self smile and inwardly feel very grateful for his brother's patience and unending kindness when it really counted. In spite of Diego's urge to preserve a strong, masculine ego, touch was something they both had sought out from each other in the cold refines of their regimented upbringing that often discouraged such humane needs. It was something that Klaus had always reached for from him and for him without permission needed. 

  
With their hands somewhat tangled together between them, there was a sudden crack that made Diego's rapidly beating heart leap into his throat before a burst of pain radiated down the back of his head, neck, and shoulders which halted his momentum and dropped him limp to the ground. Everything faded in his vision as his body succumbed and felt as heavy as the weighted ceiling pieces that had crashed into him and, unknowingly, into Klaus. This was not how this was supposed to happen, Diego was supposed to find Mom and lead them all to safety before the whole building came down, likelihood of success be damned. His stubborn nature had almost always won his battles for him, and yet had given up in the face of his worst fears coming true. He needed his family, as much as he acted like he didn't. He needed love in whatever form he could get it. 

  
In some sort of miracle, or perhaps just a stronger sense of stubbornness than is normal for the flitty, expressive man, Klaus hadn't been hit hard enough to lose consciousness for longer than a second or two at the most. He had been told that personal growth often hurt, but goddamn that felt a little excessive, or perhaps too literal for his liking. Klaus wasn't known for, well, knowing things (but was known for knowing things that others didn't know), but he knew one thing for sure in that moment- they needed to keep moving, and fast. Foresight proving correct, his green eyes looked up at what was left of the offending ceiling and noticed the schisms traveling away from them through the glass, indicating that it was going to come down at any second. He felt a pang of panic erupt in his chest at the thought of them dying like this, here, in this fucking house like they'd both always feared, like they'd all always feared. 

"Diego!....Diego!.....Diego!" He was screaming and patting at the bigger man, trying to rouse him and get them away from the impending danger. 

The blood rushing in his ears made it all sound farther away in comparison to the succinct snippets of memories of every time Diego had responded when Klaus had called for his help: when he was four and couldn't sleep because of the voices that had started whispering in his ear, when he was twelve and crawling back from his "specialized training" at the mausoleum and needed to be hugged (tightly), every time he needed a ride to or from rehab, when he would find himself on the others couch when he hadn't been able to seduce his next distraction and warm place to sleep into taking him home. When Diego wouldn't let him hide his grief when he lost Dave, and wouldn't let him grieve alone, Klaus knew they still had that bond no matter what extraneous bullshit he put the other through up until now. Klaus was messy in every sense of the word, while Diego had always been able to clean him up enough to create some semblance of a picture, but not so much to erase his traces or drips along the floor. 

  
It was in this disordered, impulse(intuition)-driven way that some place in the hidden depths of his being knew the ceiling was going to fall (and that they were both going to die because he was _not_ going to leave Diego) and, without him even realizing, were working in tandem with him in desperation. He had no idea _how_. In some way, with his heartbeat going a mile a minute, his anxiety crawling through every molecule, Klaus' powers manifested in one large surge that re-corporated Ben who grabbed Diego's wrist and yanked him and a clutching Klaus out of the way of the rest of the ceiling finally collapsing where both of their bodies had been not moments before. 

He wasn't sure if it was the stabbing bits of glass he was dragged across, the sheer force of the yank, or Diego's own instinctual (ornery) drive to wake up enough to let himself get dragged to his feet. All he knew was that somewhere in the liminal space between the two succinct moments, time seemed to slow and he thought the far away crashes and turmoil had started to form a familiar rhythm. Diego couldn't place it, not consciously anyhow, due to his current weird in-between state of half-present-adrenaline-fueled consciousness, but he pictured Eudora, her and this stupid pop song she had loved. 

_Your love is bright as ever, even in the shadows. _

Eudora had been his compass from the moment they met and she was still partly driving his motivations even after....well, after.

_Baby kiss me, before they turn the lights out._

He still didn't like to link words like her name and "murdered" even in his thoughts. When he was young and lost in the real world after leaving his sheltered life (and he'd had to distance himself from Klaus whom he'd barely recognized by that point), he'd stumbled upon her in the police academy and all of her good heart, hope, and even accountability. 

_Your heart is glowing._

She was such the opposite to what he was used to from his strained and complicated relationships that he had latched on. Diego would never volunteer it, but his need to be good and worthy and _seen_ enabled just a touch of desperation, just enough to crack open that pit of vulnerability he'd closed off years ago in his attempts to become a 'man.' 

_And I'm crashing into you. _

She tried her best, her damnedest to help Diego learn safe vulnerability. She was there through those surreal shifts of displaced childhood traumas, she would come back when Diego would clamp back down twice as hard on all of his hiding spots and shut her out. Even when they broke up because her needs were just as important and Diego's unconventional ways of meeting them were, for once, off the mark, she was there looking out for him. Music was something that was always safe to both of them, and she would play these kinds of sappy songs to try to reach out and love him.

_Baby kiss me_

Even though they didn't last romantically, Diego had still loved her, and would probably always love her. _  
_

_Before they turn the lights out._

_Baby love me lights out. _

When the his feet were under him again and his arm was being slung over a pair of familiar, slender shoulders, Diego opened his eyes. He saw obscured darkness, shattered walls and debris, felt Klaus' nail polished fingers gripping onto his arm and waist for dear life, and still heard melodies and measured explosions dancing around in his head (mild hallucinations were probably understandable by this point) while he was half dragged out of the house and down the side stairs to the safety of outside. He should have been the one leading his eccentric, emotional brother through the disorder like many, many times before. Yet here they were with the medium all flailing limbs bound to fall over any second dragging him along in that rash sort of way that only Klaus could.

_In the darkest night I'll,_

_I'll search through the crowd_

Diego's eyes sought something to ground him through the stumbling and found familiar angles, lips, smoke lined olive eyes (which he'd never been able to figure out anymore if it was always eyeliner or if his eyelashes just _did_ that), and wild dark curls in the form of Klaus. Klaus, who was still frantically looking around for the others. Klaus, who was fucking beautiful. 

_Your face is all that I see_

Diego's face lit up in such a way that was uncharacteristic for his usual controlled, bitter demeanor but would have been like breathing to Klaus. It dawned on him what had just happened, at least just the simple fact that they had dodged a huge heap of ceiling where their bodies had been, that he was alive, and that somehow Klaus was alive with him. A thrill thrummed through his form that he swore was in the same meter as the music in his head. The brightness enveloped him in the same way his hands reached for and cupped Klaus' face like an anchor.

_I'd give you everything_

Diego's torso was slumped down somewhat from the weight of his emotions (and probably the searing pain still echoing in his back and neck) suddenly welling up in his chest as brown eyes met confused, lost, bewildered green who was still trying to process how the fuck _he_ had done _that_. 

_Baby love me lights out_

Flowing into the intensity of this unique moment like all of the ones before, Klaus knew something had shifted inside Diego. Sure, almost being literally crushed to death by the house that had metaphorically felt like it was suffocating them all in a tantalizingly slow death their whole lives would probably do something to a guy. However, Diego was looking at him like he had hung the moon, not in the usual small glints of their cat and mouse dynamics but bared, warm, raw, vulnerable. It made his breath hitch, because it was as familiar as it was unexpected. He hadn't seen this Diego since they were preteens and he would sneak into number two's room at night when the nightmares and spirits left him a sweaty, writhing mess. This was before the drugs and alcohol when nothing helped except safe, strong arms around him, Diego's scent to ground him, and the other boys' attempt at comfort through soft stumbled words whispered in the dark. 

_You can turn my lights out_

Even with blood trickling out of a wound on his temple, Diego thought Klaus was breathtaking. He'd always been a bit fascinated by the other anyway just from the sheer amount of loud personality that spilled out unapologetically. That fascination had turned into admiration, and even at one point adoration (and lets not lie, puberty combined with Klaus' 'way with words' and ever changing leaves-nothing-to-the-imagination skin tight clothes, attraction). It was when this Klaus went away, or only turned up intermittently between whatever new numb he'd managed to find that Diego wistfully pulled back in the same ways he was pulling back everything that wasn't stable, competent, or heroic down to the inmost parts of himself. He had hated it (not Klaus, he could never hate Klaus), but it was all he knew how to do, or could do to protect himself. Yet this little squirmy, pliable, soft side of himself couldn't be completely broken because he still couldn't say no when Klaus really needed him over the years. He was the last resort call when the smaller man was stranded, detoxing, hungry, lonely. He had gotten to know the altered Klaus and even grown to love him just a bit, enough to keep faith but to not become naïve to the reality that this Klaus was selfish (sick) and he might lose him long before anyone else. Moreover, he slowly learned to not take his time with him for granted. 

_We don't have forever_

"Hey, you just saved my life, Man!" Diego shouted over the pandemonium. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted to get that shocked look off of the others face so Klaus could experience it all too with him.

_Baby daylight's wasting_

Klaus laughed a short, absurd laugh filled with delight and recognition and maybe a little bitterness. Of course, of course at the end of the fucking world is when this would happen for them. Or maybe he laughed at the fact that Ben had technically been the one to save them. Even better, he could have laughed because their slow tip toe (sometimes there were some impatient skips) towards each other over the past week suddenly felt like a bullet shot out of a gun. Diego's mouth suddenly crashing into his all passion and heat and desperation could have been comparable. 

  
_You better kiss me_

_Before our time is run out_

It wasn't that Diego hadn't ruminated about this moment in the past, but the way he felt the safest he'd ever goddamn felt while everything ensued around them was staggering.

  
_Nobody sees what we see  
They're just hopelessly gazing_

It made both of them wonder for half a second if the others had ever caught on. Were they as painfully obvious as Luther and Allison? They hadn't had the luxury of being so innocently exposed, had to learn to become experts at wearing multiple faces created by internalized homophobia (Diego) and fear of one of the few good things being taken away, too (Klaus). 

  
_Baby take me  
Before they turn the lights out_

Diego's hands were firm yet delicate on Klaus' face, while the other's shaky hands had found themselves gripping and twisted in black fabric on that solid, broad chest. 

  
_Before time is run out  
Baby love me lights out_

The only reason Diego even stopped was because he needed to hold the other too, needed to feel protective and grateful and familiar. It wasn't enough to only be pulled apart by Klaus but to experience that duality of soft and fierce that he had always internally struggled with; a kiss and an embrace. 

_I love it like XO_

Klaus could barely open his eyes fast enough to feel rugged, toned arms wrap around his upper and squeeze just the right amount, the amount that triggered the warm oxytocin trickle down his neck and spine that he had long believed he didn't deserve anymore, at least before Dave. It was almost funny, he had literally fallen into that love, and had learned how to walk in this one. 

_You love me like XO_

_You kill me boy XO_****<strike></strike>

That embrace solidified the internalized fragility in Klaus and tore open the barriers in Diego. If they really were going to die today, they both figured at least they got to have _this_. _  
_

_You love me like XO_

Number two clung to number four and felt unable to let go for a couple beats longer than he probably should have, wanting to savor every moment and be grateful for each one. Klaus knew that Diego was probably not in his normal state of mind, but who was Klaus to say if this wasn't his real "right" state. He knew this was going to happen at some point in time, knew it in the bottom of his spine even when his head had periods of doubt. 

_All that I see  
Give me everything  
Baby love me lights out_

It was only now after their big dramatic _'for the love of god finally'_ moment that Klaus opened his eyes from where he had pressed his face to the side of Diego's neck and saw Ben standing there facing him unbeknownst to the knife wielder. He was a little bewildered (i.e. still coming down from the high that is Diego's unleashed repressed emotions) by the look on number six's face, but was able to decipher it as a look of affront, vexation, a _'what the fuck?'_ if you will. It was a look that made the Séance preen like (because) the cat had gotten the fucking cream. 

_Baby love me lights out_

Careful, lithe arms came up into a shrug combined with an innocent, delighted smile. It wasn't his fault if Diego was out of his mind, it was clearly the adrenaline. 

_You can turn my lights out_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know thoughts and constructive criticism if you'd like. Also, any songs that make you think of these two, because I just love this pairing and might get inspired again!


End file.
